Glass magnetic stopcock



I une 1, 1948.

C. E. HERRICK, JR, ETAL GLASS MAGNETIC S TOPCOCK Filed Jan. 5, 1944 oococ aoooc aoooc cocoa oooou noneaoocc cocoa Decca ooOOc :mcoc

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INVENTORS GLIFFQR'D E. HERRICK JR- LAURENCE C.LIBERATORE Mam ATTORNEY Patented June 1, 1948 GLass mean-no s'rorcocn Clifford E. Herrick, In, New York. and Laurence O. Liberatore, Woodaide, N. Y., allignorl to the United States of America as represented by the United States Atomic Energy Commission Application January 5, 1944, Serial lilo. 517,018 3 Claims. (Cl. 137-139) This invention relates to solenoid-operated valves and more particularly to a novel type of solenoid-operated valve that is particularly well adapted for use in laboratory apparatus and that may be used in place of the conventional laboratory stopcock to attain the desirable results described hereinafter.

The conventional laboratory stopcock is subjeot to a number of disadvantages and limitations, particularly where it is incorporated in apparatus to be used in handling corrosive fluids. If the valve and seat of the stopcock are accurately round to give a close fit without use of a lubricant, there is a tendency for the valve to stick so that the valve cannot be turned without first moving the valve axially with respect to the valve seat to disengage the valve faces. When this is done, however, it is diflicult, if not impossible, to prevent escape from the apparatus of the fluid being processed. If, on the other hand, a lubricant is used to facilitate operation of the valve, there is a tendency for the corrosive fluid to attack the lubricant and either destroy its lubricating properties or produce reaction products that contaminate the fluid being processed or both. In some cases, it is not possible to find a stopcock lubricant that is sufliciently resistant to the action of the fluid being handled.

To overcome some of these disadvantages it has previously been proposed that a valve be encased in a completely sealed chamber and that a portion of the valve be made of a magnetically permeable material so that the valve can be opened by manipulation of a magnet located outside the closed chamber. In this way danger of loss of the material being processed may be eliminated. However, there is still a tendency for the valve to stick if it fits tightly in its seat or to leak if it fits loosely in its seat. The sealed valve eonstructions previously proposed failed to include any provision for overcoming this sticking problem.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved type of completely sealed valve that will overcome the disadvantages previously described.

It is another object of the invention to provide means whereby a fluid-tight completely-sealed valve may be easily opened.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a sealed valve unit having an accurately ground glass valve and seat, and means for repeatedly tapping the valve to disengage it from its seat.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from the following description and the accompanying drawing which illustrates a valve unit incorporating a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral l designates a sealed, gas-tight, glass casing defining I z a chamber having an inlet conduit l2 and an outlet conduit I 4. In the upper part of the casing to there is formed a valve seat It having an accurately ground glass tapered surface l8 which cooperates with a similarly ground glass tapered valve face '20 of a glass valvemember 22 to form a closure between the inlet l2 and outlet M of the casing. The valve member 22 is shown between the open and closed positions. Although either conduit l2 or conduit 14 may be used as an inlet, it will ordinarily be preferable to cause the fluid toenter the valve casing through the conduit l2, since with this arrangement the pressure of the entering fluid tends to maintain the valve properly seated. If conduit I4 is used as an inlet there is a, possibility that the pressure of fluid in conduit l4 will lift the valve member 22 ofl its seat and'thus permit leakage through the valve.

The valve member 22 is preferably made of glass and comprises, in addition to the valve face 20, a hemispherical head 24 and a downwardly extending valve stem 26 which may be formed of glass tubing. The bore of the tubular valve stem 26 is closed at its centra1 and lower portions by glass walls 28 and 30 to form a closed chamber 32 in the lower portion of the valve stem.

In making the valve member 22 it has been found desirable to form a small vent hole 21 in the wall of the valve stem 26 to prevent excessive pressure from building up within the stem during the process of forming and annealing the hemispherical head 24 and wall 28. After the forming operation the vent hole 21 may be sealed up or left open as desired. It has not been necessary to use such a vent in forming the chamber 32 in the lower part of the stem 26.

Within the chamber 32 there is an elongated core or rod 34 preferably made of a magnetically permeable metal, such as soft iron. The core 34 is made shorter than the chamber 32 and is thus longitudinally movable within the chamber 32 so that it may be moved upwardly to tap or jar the valve member 22, thus disengaging the valve faces l8 and 20. At the ends of the chamber 32 shock absorbing pads or cushions 36 and 38 are provided to prevent core 34 from cracking or shattering the glass stem 26 as it strikes the upper or lower walls of the chamber. The

cushions 36 and 38 may be made, for example,

of tightly packed asbestos.

Adjacent the exterior wall of the casing I0 there is an electromagnet or solenoid 40 so Positioned with respect to the casing l0 and valve stem 26 that energization of the magnet tends to cause the core 34 to move upwardly .in a direction to open the valve. Electrical energy to energize the magnet is supplied from a suitable source of energy, such as a battery 42, and passes through a pair of leads 44 and 45 to the windings 41 of the magnet 40. A key 48 is provided in the lead 44 to permit selective energization and de-'-energization of the magnet. When the key 48 is depressed to close the energizing circuit, the core 34 moves upwardly and strikes the cushion 3B in valve'stem 26 thus tending to open the valve. If the valve tends to stick, the energizing circuit may be intermittently made and broken to cause the core 34 to repeatedly tap or jar the valve stem in the direction for opening the valve, and thus cause valve face 20 to be disengaged from valve face l8. When the valve faces are disengaged, the core 34 lifts the valve member 22 to its fully open position.

In the lower portion of the casing l0, latching means are provided for retaining the valve in open position. The glass wall 30 and the lower end of the tubular stem 26 form an aperture or recess 50 at the bottom of the valve stem which is adapted to cooperate with an internal projection 52 on the inner wall of the casing l0. When the magnet has been energized and the valve is in open position, the magnet may be tilted slightly to swing the lower end of valve stem 26 to the left. Subsequent de-energization of the magnet will then permit the valve stem 25 to slide down and rest on projection 52, thus maintaining the valve in open position.

If desired, a manually movable permanent magnet may be substituted for the electromagnet 40 and the valve stem may be lifted by moving the magnet upwardly with respect to the casing. It has been found, however, that in cases where the valve tends to stick the use of a key-actuated solenoid is preferable because it causes core 34 to strike the upper end of chamber 32 with a sharper impact that is of assistance in dislodging the valve face 20 from the surface l8.

With the construction shown in the drawing, the valve and seat may be accurately ground to give a gas-tight -joint and the valve may be easily opened when desired by internaly tapping the valve stem as previously described. Furthermore, since the valve is completely encased in a gastight chamber, the possibility of leakage of valuable fiuid material from the apparatus is eliminated.

It is to be understood that the apparatus of the present invention is not limited in its application to systems handling corrosive gases. Although the construction described may be used with particular advantage in systems handling such fluids, it may be usefully employed in other cases as well. Thus, it may be used with advantage in any case where it is desirable to minimize or eliminate leakage of fluid, as, for example, where a valuable material is being processed. Since the valve is electrically operated, it is well adapted for remote control and hence may be advantageously employed in cases where there is an explosion hazard and it is desirable that the operator be at a point remote from the processing apparatus. Other possible applications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

Since many embodiments can be made of the present invention and since many changes can be made in the embodiment described above, it is to be understood that the above description is to be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

We claim:

1. A solenoid-operated valve comprising in combination a glass casing having a valve seat formed therein, an elongated valve member radially and longitudinally movable within said casing when unseated and having a ground glass valve face adapted to cooperate with said valve seat to form' a closure in said casing, said valve member having an elongated chamber formed therein, a magnetic core within said chamber and longitudinally movable with respect to said chamber, an electromagnet adjacent the exterior of said casing and so positioned longitudinally of said casing that energization of said magnet causes said core to move in a direction to open said valve, and means for energizing said electromagnet to cause said core to strike said valve member and open said valve, said casing having a projection on the interior thereof engageable in an aperature in said valve member when unseated providing a latching means for retaining said valve member in open position.

2. A solenoid-operated valve comprising in combination a glass casing having a valve seat formed therein, a movable valve member within said casing and having a ground glass valve face adapted to cooperate with said valve seat to form a closure in said casing, said valve member having an elongated chamber formed therein, a magnetic core within said chamber and movable with respect to said chamber, an electromagnet adjacent the exterior of and tiltable with respect to said casing and so positioned longitudinally of said casing that energization of said magnet causes said core to move in a direction to open said valve, and means for energizing said electromagnet to cause said core to strike said valve member and open said valve, said casing and said valve member being formed to provide latching means engageable upon titlting and deenergizing said magnet for retaining said valve member in open position.

3. A solenoid operated valve comprising in combination a casing having a frusto-conical valve seat formed therein, an elongated valve member loosely positioned within said casing, said member having a frusto-conlcal valve face adjacent one end adapted to cooperate with said seat to form a closure in said casing, said member having an elongated internal chamber, a magnetic core loosely positioned within said chamber for axial and radial movement therein, an electromagnet adjaccnt the exterior of and tiltable with respect to said casing and so positioned with respect to said casing that energization of said magnet causes said core to move in a direction to open said valve, and a projection-on said casing extending into said chamber for engaging an aperture in said valve member whereby the valve may be held open upon tilting and deenergization of said magnet.

CLIFFORD E. HERRICK, Jn. LAURENCE C. LIBERATORE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 959,609 Roehrich May 31, 1910 1,003,068 Schaller Sept. 12, 1911 1,920,925 Juchhelm -1 Aug. 1, 1933 2,257,582 Werther Sept. 30, 1941 2,324,642 Peterson July 20, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 151,789 Austria 1936 413,827 Germany 1925 806,223 France 1936 

